This chapter brought to you because I've been watching too many episodes of Very Scary People. Not that it had any effect on what I wrote, it just motivated me to post it. Thank you to Sullerrerahotchnissmortica2020, daughterofriversong, YaleAceBella12, Sanchezashley, seleneplaysgames, decadenceofmysoul, Daisyangel, and mynameislouhearmeroar for commenting on the last chapter and thanks to everyone who wishing me a happy birthday and to those who stayed up late to read. I appreciate it all.

Scenes from and references to 5x4 and 5x5.

By the time Anna's birthday rolled around, she had made a couple friends on her floor and was settling in nicely. Since her birthday fell on Monday and it was Labor Day there would be no school. The Sunday before her birthday with nothing else to do, she decided to call her mom, however this time, it was a video call instead of just on the phone. She made herself comfortable on her bed, her pillows propping her up against the wall.

"Happy Birthday, Baby," Linda said as she answered.

"Thanks, Mama, but you're early," Anna answered. "Have you eaten yet?" She noticed her mom was in the kitchen of the Reagan patriarch's home working on something.

"No, not yet. Are you saying that I can call tomorrow?"

"If you really want to. I'll never turn down a phone call from my mother."

"What are you having for dinner?"

"I was thinking Chinese. Found this great, little place near campus that even delivers and it has the most amazing food. What about you?"

"Meatloaf." So that explained what she was doing, making dinner for the family.

"That makes me miss home cooked food."

"Part of being at college," Jamie said over Linda's shoulder having stepped up to get the wine glasses off the counter.

"Hi, Uncle Jamie," Anna said.

"Happy early birthday, Anna."

"Thank you. Good week?"

"For the most part. You?"

"Yeah, classes don't seem too hard and I've made some friends."

"That's great," both Jamie and Linda said.

"Yeah, the girls here are real nice."

"Is that Anna? Can I talk to her?" Anna heard Sean ask.

"Sure." Linda handed over the phone.

After talking to Sean, Jack, Nicky, and Erin, the phone ended up in front of Henry and Frank. "Happy early birthday," they said.

"Thank you," Anna answered.

"How are you doing?" Henry asked.

"I'm okay. Figuring things out, even made a few friends."

"Wanna come home yet?"

"Not yet. I'm figuring things out; haven't gotten all the way there yet."

"Understandable, but you will come home?" Frank asked.

"The week of Thanksgiving. The dorms close that week and I have to be out," Anna answered.

"You're welcome here at any time," Frank said.

"I know, Grampa. How's work?" Anna asked.

"Fine."

"Of course it is. That's all Detective Baker will tell me too. It's busy but you're handling it."

"What more can I tell you?"

"I'm sure there's nothing more you can tell me." Anna said. They spoke more about her classes and what she was studying before they hung up. It was only when she put the phone back on her desk that she realized she hadn't seen or spoken to her father. It stung a little, she hated fighting with her father and wanted him to apologize or at least trying to figure it out with her, but she knew until they could figure it out they were stuck. He was as stubborn as she was and when they both thought they were right about something neither was willing to back down. Not until they had proof they were wrong or they were forced to.

Anna flipped through the takeout menus on the desk and the cafeteria menu the next night before there was a knock on her door. It opened to reveal Riley. "Will you come with me?" Riley asked.

"Do I need shoes?" Anna asked.

"No. Just come on." Anna stood and Riley grabbed her hand, practically dragging her down the hall. They stopped in front of their RA's dorm where Riley opened the door and nearly shoved Anna inside. Everyone called surprise and Anna smiled widely. They all wished her a happy birthday before indulging pizza and cake.

It was a few weeks later that Jamie called. "So your parents aren't here, no Grampa or Pops, tell me how it's really going in Miami," Jamie said.

"Just you and me?" Anna said.

"Exactly."

"It's an adjustment for sure, I mean it's almost October and I'm still wearing shorts, but the girls on the floor are real nice. I've made a few friends both girls and guys. On top of all that, classes are going well."

"Really?" It wasn't that Jamie sounded like he didn't believe her, he did, it just sounded like he was interested in the conversation and wanted to make sure everything was okay with his niece especially when she wasn't talking to her dad.

"Yes, really."

"So you haven't dropped out and decided to spend all your time at the beach?"

"Uncle Jamie," she protested.

"I'll take that as a no," he said.

"Of course not. There isn't a beach close. It's over 20 minutes away. I think it's called Matheson something beach."

"I thought everything was on the beach in Miami?"

"Only on Miami Beach, which apparently is a very different thing," Anna said. "You know you could always look it up on a map."

"I already did."

Anna rolled her eyes and asked about his days on the job. Though he had a few good stories, it was basic day to day most of the time. Soon though she had to hang up and get back to her homework.

What started as a great week in late October went downhill pretty fast. It wasn't quite a week to Halloween when she got her email from Baker that told her Gormley had kinda received a promotion along with what was his new number. One that she instantly called the moment she was free. "Gormley," he answered.

"Congrats, Sergeant," Anna said happily. "I heard you got promoted."

"Hello, Anna. It's more of a transfer than a promotion." He sounded nowhere near as happy as she was.

"To One PP right?" She toned down her excitement.

"Yeah."

"Detective Baker said it's a new title, one the commissioner came up with himself."

"He did."

"So that's good right? He must have really wanted you at One PP if he created a position like that."

"Not so sure about that." He really sounded to be doubting himself and his worth.

She had to cheer him up. "I am. My grandfather was a cop's cop. Said there's no better feeling than being one of the guys other than the love of a good woman. Everything I know about you says you'll give him that." Then it hit her that he was a busy man and had more work now that he was on the senior staff at the police headquarters. "I'm probably taking up a lot of your time, I should go."

"It's okay, really," he told her.

"Okay. Again, I just wanted to say congratulations on the promotion."

"Thank you, Anna. How's college going for you?"

"Good. Classes are sorta interesting and I've met a few great people who have become friends. To be honest, it's kinda scary being this far from home without someone to fall back on but I'm still excited. It's a chance to see if I can do this on my own."

"I know how that can feel."

"It's good in its own way too. I see what I'm capable of when no one is watching."

"And if you fail ..."

"Then, as my grandfather says, I fail while daring greatly and I figure out if I can pull myself back up by the bootstraps."

"If you're anything like your father, you'll be fine."

"That's what everyone tells me. Thank you, Sarge. I gotta go but would it be okay if I kept you updated?"

"It'd be okay with that and if you need anything feel free to call."

"I will, thank you." They hung up and Anna went about her day feeling a bit better about being in Florida.

A few days later, Riley rushed through her door. "Hey, I know you're from New York and your last name is Reagan, through I'm not sure if you're related, anyway you have to see this video. Straight out of New York and it's gone viral," she said.

"Okay," Anna said slowly.

Riley turned Anna's computer towards her and pulled up the video. Anna's eyes instantly landed on the headline. 'Former NYPD Commissioner Admits Police Brutality'. Then Riley hit the play button and the next 15 seconds or so made Anna cringe. Essentially Henry was saying that he would order his cops to beat a few people around the head with nightsticks to get the name of whomever wanted to kill a cop or was making threats against a cop.

"I'm sure that was taken out of context."

"Are you defending him?'

"I'm just saying that ... Sometimes you hear a snippet of a conversation you don't get the whole story. Maybe he's saying that was something that was acceptable back in his day and something he did once but he knows that it's not anymore. You don't know unless you hear the whole story."

"Maybe."

"My grampa always said there's three sides to every story. Your side, my side, and the truth. And my cousin Sofie says that opinions and excuses are like armpits, everyone's got at least one and a half of them stink."

"Yeah, you're right," Riley said. "I still think he shouldn't have said it."

"We all say things we shouldn't and there are things that were acceptable then that aren't now and things that are acceptable now that won't be in 20 years."

"Like what?" Riley was staring at her, almost daring her to come up with something done today that wouldn't be acceptable in 20 years.

Anna had an ace up her sleeve though thanks to a research paper she had done in high school. "It's still legal to hit a student with a ruler in 19 states, including this one."

Riley's face fell. It seemed the girl didn't remember that. "Right." Riley left the room slightly disappointed and Anna instantly called Detective Baker.

"NYPD Commissioner's office. This is Detective Baker," she answered.

"Detective, it's Anna. I'll get straight to the point, since I know you're busy. Have you seen the video?" Anna asked.

"Which one?"

"The one of my great-grandfather."

"Yes."

"And my grandfather?"

"He's seen it too."

"I'm sure it's taken out of context, right?" Anna asked. "I mean, he was telling a story of what happened years ago and it wasn't something he was advocating for now, right?"

"I don't have an answer for that, Anna."

"Is Grampa mad?"

"I think he's more disappointment."

"I see. And since it was in a public place, there's nothing they can do about the video because there's no expectation of privacy. I don't even think apologizing will help much at this point."

"Probably not."

"Thanks, Detective."

"Of course, Anna. And maybe talk to your cousin about what she posts online?"

"Yeah, she was my next call." They said their goodbyes and hung up. Anna was about to call Nicky when another tweet came through. This time thankfully it wasn't about what her teacher had said but rather her great-grandfather. Anna sat down her phone, grabbed her keys, and went for a walk. The sun was shining and warming her skin as the wind blew a soft breeze creating ripples across the lake near her dorm.

Her walk took her along the lake, past the recital hall and into the student center where she got a cream-based chocolate frappe. She slowly walked back to her dorm sipping her creamy, sugary drink. When she got back to her dorm, she picked up her phone and made the phone call she was dreading. She knew she shouldn't get involved but also knew that her cousin needed help. She settled in on the bed, making herself comfortable for the phone call that hopefully wouldn't turn in to a fight. Once she was settled, or as settled as she could get, she opened the phone app, brought up her contacts, and pulled up Nicky's. After a few more seconds of mental preparation, she hit the call button.

"So I saw your posts," Anna said gently, when Nicky picked up.

"Let me guess, you're as angry as everyone else?" Nicky sighed.

"I'm not angry. Concerned is a better word. You were pretty angry with the first tweet."

"She made me angry. She's so controlling and she crams her ideology down our throats. It's really not fair."

"Fair or not, it's part of life. I may not know everything like some of our family, but even I know that you should only rant if you can choose who sees or hears it. Like setting your social media to private so only your friends or followers can see it."

"Or delete my twitter completely."

"That would be your decision but both of us know that sometimes all it takes for one person with an open mind to change their mind is one tweet."

"Do you agree with Pops?"

"I don't have the entire story. There's no way to form an opinion."

"Pick a side, Anna," Nicky snapped.

"Look, it's like that S.A.T. question. "Bob has seven apples, Billy has three. If John were to take four apples, how many does each person have?" There's not enough information. Did John take the apples from Bob? Did he take some from each? Was there a pile of apples on a table that John picked from?" Anna gave her a moment to think it over. "As far as Pops goes, if he was just telling a story of what he had done 25 years ago, then it's just a story and it's not relevant, so there's no use getting mad about it. If it's his true opinion of how he thinks this case should be handled, maybe we should have a talk with him and not support him so publicly."

"But—"

"I know Nicky, but the world's changed and as much as I love our great-grandfather and would hate for something terrible to happen that his 20th century tactics may be able to prevent, sometimes you can't win them all and you have to change with the times."

"I guess you're right."

"Nicky, I really hope he was just telling a story."

"Me too." It was quiet on both ends for a few moments. "Have you talked to Uncle Jamie?"

"Not since a brief word on Sunday," Anna answered. "Should I talk to him?"

"I don't know. Something seemed off when I talked to him the other day. Maybe distracted or something." Anna agreed to talk to him but had to work on homework over the next few days so she had to put it off.

A couple days later, a headline popped up on her twitter feed and Anna instantly called her uncle after reading the article. "Hey, Anna, is everything alright?" Jamie asked.

"Alright? How can ... Molotov cocktail through his window and his partner kidnapped and he's asking if everything's alright?"

"Molotov ... Anna, you shouldn't believe everything you read."

"I know that but please, be honest with me. I get the national news and I still have friends in New York that watch the news. How are you? Your partner?"

"We're both fine. And yes, really fine."

"And your partner? Do I have to call Renzulli to get the truth?"

"Anna, her name is Eddie and she's fine; a bit shaken, but still fine."

"Okay," Anna answered.

"And how are things in Miami?" Anna didn't fail to notice how fast and eager he was to change the subject. Anna allowed it.

"Good. Midterms are coming up and I'm a bit worried about my science one but I think I'll be okay."

"When are you coming home next?"

"Thanksgiving week. We get off the 22nd through the 30th, but I can leave the 21st when my last class gets out so I should be there on the 22nd."

"Will you be staying with your parents?"

"They have a basement that will work just fine. We should get together some time that week."

"You mean besides Thanksgiving?" he suggested.

"Yeah, besides that," she answered.

"I'll let you know the closer we get." They talked a bit longer before hanging up.

Shortly after Anna got a texted picture of her brothers' Halloween costumes, she got a text telling her about the "Battle of the Badges". Funnily enough, the text actually came from Jim and not her family. That didn't come as a surprise as he knew her family would be there but what did, was that her uncle would be fighting. As far as she knew he hadn't boxed in years and this was something that took months of training, something he was sure to have mentioned if he had been training for. So she texted Nicky who told her that the guy who had originally been scheduled for it had to back out when he hurt his foot. She was at a dorm party in the Common Room of their dorm when 10 minutes before the bout she got a text alerting her there was a change in plans and the original fighter had healed up enough and was cleared to fight. She was bit disappointed that her uncle wouldn't be fighting but knew he had his reasons not to. Still she watched the video when Nicky sent it and cheered on the cop.

In this chapter Anna mentions that it's still legal to hit a student with a ruler in 19 states. This is true in public schools. 31 states have made it illegal to do such but 19 have no such law on the books. The laws also only apply to public schools. Both this line and the name Riley came from Girl Meets World. I would have included this reference in the chapter but the episode didn't air until July 2015 and this chapter is set in 2014.